1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container, and in particular, to a liquid container that contains liquid to be supplied to an image forming apparatus that has a recording head discharging liquid droplets.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, a plotter, a multifunction peripheral having functions thereof, a printing machine or the like, an image forming apparatus of a liquid discharge recording type is known which uses a recording head containing liquid discharge heads (liquid droplet discharge heads) discharging liquid droplets, for example.
In such an image forming apparatus, for the purpose of being able to carry out continuous printing for a long time, a liquid cartridge as a liquid container for containing liquid is known which is replaceable for an apparatus body, and also, includes a contact-type information storage device (an IC chip or so) that stores information (the remaining amount, the type and/or the like) concerning the liquid contained in the liquid container.
In a case of using such a contact-type information storage device, an exchange of information can be carried out between the liquid cartridge and the side of the apparatus body, as a result of the liquid cartridge being attached to the side of the apparatus body and a reading unit of the side of the apparatus body coming into contact with the information storage device of the liquid cartridge.
For this purpose, it is necessary that when the liquid cartridge is attached to the apparatus body, the information storage device and the reading unit of the side of the apparatus body positively come into contact with one another.
Therefore, such a configuration is known that, for example, the information storage device is movably held in the side of the liquid cartridge, and a projection in the side of the apparatus body is inserted into a hole or the like of a substrate having the information storage device, whereby positioning is made between the information storage device and the reading unit of the apparatus body (see Patent Reference No. 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4843112), Patent Reference No. 2 (Japanese Patent No. 4111089) and Patent Reference No. 3 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2010-58525)).
However, in a commercial printing machine such as a large-size continuous form printing machine or the like, for example, as an image forming apparatus, both high productivity and low cost are required. For this purpose, it is necessary to increase the capacity of the liquid cartridge for the purpose of making it possible to carry out continuous printing for a long time. On the other hand, in order to make it possible to reduce the cost by reducing the downtime of the printing machine, it is required to be able to replace the liquid cartridge easily.
In order to make it possible to be able to easily replace the liquid cartridge having the large capacity, the clearance between the liquid cartridge and a cartridge attaching unit of the side of the body of the printing machine is increased. As a result, a relative positional difference may be increased between the information storage device on the side of the liquid cartridge and the reading unit on the side of the apparatus body (the body of the printing machine), whereby a reading failure (a contact failure) may easily occur.
Further, the inertia force of an impact or vibration occurring during transportation is large in the liquid cartridge having the large capacity. Therefore, a seal should be positively made in a liquid supply port (also called a liquid introduction port) through which the liquid is supplied to the side of the body of the printing machine. On the other hand, the seal should be easily removed from the liquid supply port when the liquid cartridge is to be replaced, so that the replacement work can be made easier, and thus, the downtime can be reduced.